By Sami Zaptia.
London, 22 September 2020:
The EU yesterday imposed additional sanctions for human rights abuses and arms embargo violations on two Libyans and three companies from Kazakhstan, Turkey and Jordan.
The two Libyans are Mahmoud Werfalli, for human rights violations, and Moussa Diab, for human rights abuses.
The three companies are: Sigma Airlines, Kazakhstan; Avrasya Shipping, from Turkey; and Med Wave Shipping, from Jordan – all for UN arms embargo violations.
In its press statement yesterday, the EU said, ‘‘the Council today decided to impose targeted restrictive measures on two persons responsible for human rights abuses in Libya and three entities involved in violating the UN arms embargo in place for Libya. They will be added to the EU’s list of persons and entities subject to restrictive measures related to the Libyan conflict.
The sanctions imposed comprise a travel ban and an asset freeze for natural persons, and an asset freeze for entities. In addition, EU persons and entities are forbidden from making funds available to those listed. With these new designations, the EU now has travel bans on 17 listed persons and has frozen the assets of 21 persons and 19 entities.
The EU imposes restrictive measures on persons and entities whose actions threaten the peace and security of Libya or obstruct the successful completion of its political transition. The EU has repeatedly called on all parties to respect human rights and international law and is committed to holding anyone violating them accountable. The EU is also determined to see the UN arms embargo in Libya fully respected. These new listings show the EU’s strategic use of its sanctions regime and ability to react to developments on the ground in support of the political process and to deter past and present perpetrators from further violations.
The EU’s sanctions complement and reinforce the sanctions adopted by the UN, which include an arms embargo and individual measures, including for human rights abuses. The UN has imposed a travel ban on 28 persons and an asset freeze on 23 persons.
The relevant legal acts, including the names of the persons and entities concerned, have been published in the Official Journal.”
Speaking yesterday on Libya, the EU High Representative Joseph Borrell said the latest developments in Libya are a window of opportunity and that there needs to be an advance on three priorities now: sustainable ceasefire agreements, lifting the oil blockade, the resumption of political dialogue and the continuation of operation IRINI in implementing the UN Security Council arms embargo and the EU restrictive measures are a crucial part of EU’s actions.
